Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2021 September 2
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                          M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy
                Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Josep Drudis

   Explanation: [5]Find the Big Dipper and follow the handle away from the
   dipper's bowl until you get to the last bright star. Then, just slide
   your telescope a little south and west and [6]you'll come upon this
   stunning pair of interacting galaxies, [7]the 51st entry in Charles
   Messier's famous catalog. Perhaps the [8]original spiral nebula, the
   large galaxy with well defined spiral structure is also cataloged as
   NGC 5194. Its [9]spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of
   its companion galaxy (top), [10]NGC 5195. The pair are about 31 million
   light-years distant and officially lie within the angular boundaries of
   the small constellation [11]Canes Venatici. Though M51 looks faint and
   fuzzy to the eye, [12]deep images like this one reveal its striking
   colors and galactic [13]tidal debris.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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    Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([28]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [29]Specific rights apply.
              [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC
                           & [34]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2109/M51-SL14-RGB-196-Final-cC.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. http://www.astrodrudis.com/
   5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210731.html
   6. http://www.universetoday.com/35997/messier-51/
   7. http://messier.obspm.fr/m/m051.html
   8. http://messier.seds.org/more/m051_rosse.html
   9. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/messier-51-the-whirlpool-galaxy
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130831.html
  11. http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/cvn/index.html
  12. https://astrodrudis.com/messier-51-ngc-5194/
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200108.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210901.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210902
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210903.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/
  33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  34. http://www.mtu.edu/